Gary, have you ever made your own? It's simple to do. If you've never had the salt cured version I highly suggest it. It doesn't taste the same as the nitrate cured type and it isn't red, but it is very meaty tasting. That's the best I can describe the flavor. If you need recipes/formulas let me know, but a 'net search will readily turn them up.

We can't get enough fried onion burgers around here. My wife has a large electric griddle she uses, and when she plans a dinner, all the kids and grands (and us) has a great supper. (I might have posted about this earlier. If so, I apologize.)

For reasons beyond my control I have been putting this off for 3 days; Pork LoMein. I love LoMein. I had some leftover pork medallions (julienned) and deliberately put vermicelli on the dinner list days previous so that I would have leftovers to work with. The result that I made with corn kernels off the cob and a red habanero sliced paper thin, seeds and pith, it might not be traditional, but it sure was good! It also had onion, carrot, and broccoli tips. I have no recipe. It included oyster sauce, soy sauce, water, and a slurry of corn starch. Dang! I forgot the garlic! It was still delicious. If one can get past the heat of the habanero they have a sim[ply wonderful flavor*; it brought a new addition to the flavor of the dish that I never thought of before but they are ripe and in the garden, so I gave it a try. The result was hot but delicious. If one is sensitive to hot pepper it would be off the scale hot. The heat can be mitigated a bit by removing the seeds and pith from the hot pepper. Not a traditional addition but a keeper. Of course the hot pepper can be omitted or replaced with sweet pepper. I had intended to include sweet pepper, but it was yet another item that I forgot we had. I blame the pre-dinner cocktails (not myself).

I like my LoMein with generous sauce but not swimming in it. Hence the addition of a bit of water.

In years past I tried to make my stir fries with a wok, but western ranges simply don't work well with them. So I've either been using fry pans in cast iron, steel, Stainless steel or tonight a PTFE pan. I suspect the dish washer prefers the PTFE coated pan. I know the cook definitely prefers not having to re-season the steel pans.

Sorry, no pics. Picture white spaghetti in a brown sauce with all of the colors described above mixed into it.

*I know of no other milder pepper that has the same flavor or aroma. So if you're "heat" sensitive there is simply is no way to get the flavor I describe with another pepper.

I simmer the meatballs in the covered, flameproof tangine in the sauce at low heat, stirring once, for about 45 minutes until the meatballs are cooked right through. The meatballs are small at about 15 ml (walnut-size) each.

I simmer the meatballs in the covered, flameproof tangine in the sauce at low heat, stirring once, for about 45 minutes until the meatballs are cooked right through. The meatballs are small at about 15 ml (walnut-size) each.

Tonight was about as simple as it gets. I had a quarter of a pound chunk of smoked sausage heated in the microwave and wrapped in a slice of bread. Didn't even put any mustard on it. That was my supper and boy was it good! Not to mention a couple of fingers of Jim Beam in a paper cup with ice. Nice!

Tonight we are having another Mississippi Pot Roast. It's been a while. I only used 1/2 of the amount of butter it calls for. Not time to eat yet, so I'm enjoying a couple of cans of Lost Lake Ice beer while waiting for the rest of the family to show up.

Tonight it's home-made salmon cakes and a kale-based salad. Last night it was turkey chili and mixed greens. We always make our turkey chili with beans in it even though you'd think that after living in Houston for 10 years we'd know that there're NO BEANS in chili (to paraphrase Judge Roy Bean); don't know what my Houston neighbours would think if they knew I used turkey too.

Not for supper tonight, but soon --- Chicken Chow Mein. For quite a while I've been looking for meals that are more healthy, just like most other folks. Anyway, yesterday evening we ordered Chinese take-out. it was just what I was looking for. I'm wondering if anyone here has a simple and healthy recipe for some healthy homemade Chow Mein.

I found a small steak (round steak possibly) in the freezer this evening. I was eatiing alone, so I grilled it (stovetop/cast iron grill). Didn't have anything I wanted to fix on the side, so I just went with the meat. I did have a Dos Equis dark beer/menchilada to wash it down. Great simple supper.

I've been eating much healthier lately. Sodium is one of the things I'm dodging and cold cuts are loaded with the stuff. Then there is the cholesterol and sat' fat in many of them, again, things not on my diet. So what to do about them?

Make my own. I bought an entire top round packer and on getting it home cut out what I could to make "roast beef" for cold cuts. It's actually getting sous vide, then sprinkled with dextrose and torched. We did the first one 2 weeks ago and it turned out good, but it needs more time in the SV bath. So I think I'll double the time to 24 hours.

The trimmings that couldn't be cut into roast beef? Extremely lean hamburger meat. I'm cooking one package of that tonight in the form of burgers.

gary, how long do you pot roast for? for me anyway, there seems to be a line--8'ish hours'-- where on one side meat is tough and on the other its fork tender. lately which side of the line im on has been a flipcoin

Made 2 loaves of 50% freshly ground whole white wheat bread yesterday, sans salt, but they do have sodium in the form of vitamin C added to strengthen the gluten structure. Why make bread? I like to stay under 500mg sodium per day. Read labels to see how difficult that is to do. Many breads will put one over that with 2 slices. Add cold cuts and cheese and you could be up over 1000mg sodium. In the past I was among those folks with high sodium intake, but that has changed.

Today I'm going to grind up some 95%+ lean beef. It has yet to be decided what we're going to make with it.

The other day I made spaghetti sauce with Hunts no sodium added canned "sauce". Anyone using it straight out of the can is in for a rude awakening. It appeared to be only ground up tomatoes, but I think the label said it had basil and garlic in it. I couldn't detect any. It would have very bland on it's own. I added basil, oregano, gran' garlic, and some crushed red pepper and brought it to a simmer. When I got done with it it was quite tasty, even more so the next day. Freshly shredded Pecorino Romano (yes I know, sodium, but some things are required) finished the spaghetti. Supposedly Contadina makes no sodium added canned tomatoes, but our supermarket doesn't carry that brand. They do however have a house brand that is no sodium added. Someone makes it for them and puts on the supermarket label; it might be Contadina for all I know. But for a really quick sauce what I did the other day with the Hunts was really good. By the time the spaghetti was ready so was the sauce.

Anyway, the BP is doing good, the LDL/HDL in Sept' 1 was 43/72 (not a typo), and I'm doing good. (I had a triple bypass in early June after an extremely mild heart attack)

I did cheat a bit on Saturday... I allow myself 2 eggs per week, so I had them and 2 very thin slices of lower sodium Spam, fried crispy to get rid of as much fat as possible. No salt on the eggs, and I really missed that. In my previous life I couldn't eat eggs w/o salt. If there is any left by next Saturday I'll probably crisp up another 2 slices and dice it finely and add it to my eggs for the sodium content.